Do you know what is in this picture? It’s surprising, but many young French people don’t know how to identify it.
Young people clearly have difficulty recognizing what grows in gardens or fields before being collected by farmers and put on sale in supermarkets or markets. This was shown by a Harris Interactive survey carried out online on February 20 and 21, among a sample of 1,058 people representative of the French population. Main cause: the French are buying less and less. Consumption habits are changing, and it is clear that vegetable garden products are less and less popular.*
This has important implications. Young people struggle to recognize certain fruits and vegetables since they are not part of their daily lives. According to the survey, 18% of 15/24 year olds cannot identify a zucchini in a photo, for example. They mistake it for a cucumber. An additional 2% think they are facing an eggplant. Among adults, the problem also persists but on a smaller scale: 10% answer that it is a cucumber. In addition, 4% of new generation respondents could not identify a cauliflower. For fruits, although blood orange is sometimes confused with grapefruit, errors are less frequent.
Only 46% of those surveyed say they cook regularly with fresh vegetables. For 15/24 year olds, this figure drops to 31%. The two main reasons are prices and lack of time for preparation. Young people are also those who turn most to fast food. 59% said they eat at a fast food restaurant at least once a week, a figure much higher than in the general population (37%).
Young people are also numerous in consuming prepared meals: 44% compared to 23% in the general population. They are also only 66% who eat fresh fruit regularly, 72% for vegetables compared to 81% of French people who eat them several times a week. They prefer starchy foods (89%) or canned foods (40%).
This survey carried out at the request of Olivia Grégoire, Minister Delegate in charge of Business, Tourism and Consumption, confirmed her concerns. She then wishes to strengthen “the food education of the French”, particularly among young people. She also wants to encourage a diet with more fresh products, as reported Le Figaro. The minister deplores that low-income families are those who “consume the most processed foods, and who do not have time to cook because they have irregular schedules”. A problem which is particularly glaring in single-parent families. As food expert Eric Birlouez explains, for Europe 1“it’s easier, for a couple, for an executive working from home, to cook fresh products rather than processed products. But these ready-made meals simplify the life of single-parent families, less fortunate, with long days.”